Commiserating
by mergrly3286
Summary: Hermione and Ginny discuss their boy troubles, because that's what girl friends are for. Set in the middle of book 6, so you know that the relationship angst is at an all-time high. Major spoilers for that book.


**A/N: I wrote this because Hermione and Ginny's friendship is somewhat hidden in the books... because they can't really have girl talk around Harry and Ron. Sometime after I read book 6 I realized that poor Hermione has to share a room with Lavender Brown... Lavender Brown who spends all her time snogging Ron. So this story started as me feeling Hermione's pain, and continued to exploring her friendship with Ginny. I hope you enjoy this look into the woes of our favorite Hogwarts girls. [Disclaimer: I own nothing. Harry Potter is not my intellectual property.] **

Commiserating

Once again, I was lying awake in my four-poster. I stared at the ceiling above me. I knew every knot and hole in that wood grain. If you squinted enough, you could imagine that they were stars. Or perhaps very angry birds. I sighed, turning over onto my side. I knew the pattern in the velvet of the crimson curtains around the bed as well. I could not imagine a night sky here, however. Here I saw a face: the long nose, wide grin, and even a few freckles. I turned back to the ceiling; I preferred the birds at the moment.

I heard the door open with a creak. Someone tiptoed in, walking towards the bed to my right. I heard the curtains on that bed being pulled back.

"Parvati!" I heard Lavender whisper loudly. "Are you awake?"

"I am now," Parvati groaned sleepily. "What's going on?"

"I just got back," Lavender whispered back breathlessly. "You'll never guess what I've been doing!" I fought to keep my breathing steady.

"Snogging Ron Weasley? All this time?" Parvati questioned, with a soft giggle. My stomach turned uncomfortably.

"Yes! I can scarcely breathe!" Lavender squealed. "I never thought he would even notice me. This whole night has been unbelievable!"

"So are you two a couple now?" Parvati asked curiously. "Is it official?"

"Yes of course!" Lavender squealed again. "I mean, we didn't spend much time talking about it… we were busy!" At this point both girls collapsed into a fit of apparently uncontrollable giggles. I felt rather nauseous.

"But really!" Lavender gasped, recovering from her spastic episode. "He's so sweet and caring. Remember in Transfiguration last week when I dropped my quill and he picked it up for me?" With this she gave a disgustingly contented sigh.

I couldn't take much more of this, but the excited whispers and giggling did not seem to be coming to an end. I covered my head with a pillow, hoping to drown it out. I wondered absently if Lavender knew how carrying her whispers were. Her words kept pushing through my pillow, cutting into my consciousness like a rusty dagger.

"He really likes me!" Lavender squealed. "And when he kissed me… it was like magic!"

Angry tears began welling up in my eyes. They spilled out, down my cheeks and onto the pillow. I sat up, and sniffled softly. Lavender and Parvati fell silent. They must have heard me. There was no hiding now, I thought. I pulled back my curtains and climbed out of bed. I avoided their gaze as I fled to the door, mumbling something about going to the bathroom. I closed the heavy wooden door behind me, blessing the hallway for its silence.

I turned as I heard the snap of another door on the hall closing. I saw another person in a pale nightgown coming toward me. The flaming red hair was so familiar that I felt a sudden desire to kick something, but the face beneath it was different. The girl approached me in the dim light, and gave me a concerned look.

"Hermione? Are you all right?" she asked kindly.

"I'm fine Ginny," I said quickly, wiping the tears off my face with the sleeve of my nightgown.

"Don't lie to me," she scolded. "I can see that you've been crying. Not that you don't have a reason to. My brother's being a stupid git." I laughed half-heartedly.

"So why are you out here?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Half the girls in school are in love with Harry nowadays," Ginny remarked, rolling her eyes. "Dean would probably not be happy if I hexed all those idiots who spend their nights planning how to slip a love potion to 'the chosen one.'" I laughed now in earnest. We sat down, our backs against the wall between our two doors.

"I used a flock of birds to attack your brother earlier," I confessed, after a few moments of quiet.

"I'm sure he deserved it," Ginny said, patting my arm comfortingly. "He still can't see past the end of his nose."

"It's not even just the Lavender Brown thing," I admitted. "He's been angry with me for weeks and I don't know what I did."

"Uh oh," Ginny said, looking down. "That may be my doing."

"How?" I asked curiously.

"Well, a few weeks ago," Ginny began, blushing slightly, "I informed Ron that you snogged Viktor Krum, back when you two were together the year of the Triwizard Tournament."

I snorted. With Ginny everything seemed a lot funnier. "How did that even come up? What was that, two years ago?" I wondered aloud.

"Ron and Harry walked in on me and Dean snogging after Quidditch practice one day," Ginny began, laughing. "And Ron started yelling, you know how he gets."

I nodded in agreement. I'd seen plenty of Ron's temper.

"So I told him that there's nothing wrong with a little snogging, and that he's only upset because he's the only one who hasn't gotten any good snogging in yet," Ginny continued. "I provided examples to illustrate my point. You and Viktor. Harry and Cho." She cleared her throat at this last pairing, clearly a bit annoyed herself.

"Well now he has nothing to complain about," I said, biting my lip in an attempt to block any more tears.

"He bloody well shouldn't complain," Ginny said vehemently. "He didn't have to share a room with Krum."

"Thanks for the sympathy, Ginny," I said earnestly.

"Any time," she said. "You've given me some good advice over the years."

"You're a great friend," I said, giving Ginny a hug. "And I'm sure someday boys will stop being stupid."

"I certainly hope so," Ginny replied, with a smile.

When I finally climbed back into my own four-poster, the other inhabitants of my room had fallen silent. I curled up and drifted to sleep soon. My dreams were filled with stars, birds, and redheaded children.


End file.
